[COURT or CRIMINAL APPEAL]

1951 Present: Nagalingam J. (President), Basnayake 3. and
Gunasekara J.

NAIDE, Appellant, and THE KING, Respondent.

 APPEAL 58 OF 1951, WITH APPLICATION 84

S. C. 15-M. C. Kurunegala, 454.
 

Austin Jayasuriya for the accused appellant.

T. S. Fernando, Crown Counsel, with Boyd Jayasuriya, Crown Counsel, for the Crown.

Cur. adv. vult.

NAGALINGAM J.

The appellant in this case has been found guilty of the offence of murder and has been sentenced to death. The only point raised at the hearing of this appeal is that the accused has been prejudiced as a result of a misdirection in the charge of the learned trial Judge.

It would be advantageous to set out very briefly the salient facts necessary for a proper appreciation of the point debated at the Bar. The appellant made an unsworn statement from the dock in the course of which he admitted having stabbed the deceased woman, his sister-in-law. He also narrated the circumstances under which he inflicted the injuries. He said that he had come homo that morning from the field hungry and asked his sister-in-law for rice. According to him, the deceased woman abused him sa